In recent years, the growth of the Internet has given rise to numerous online opportunities whereby marketers may market their goods or services. Examples of web-based properties which may be utilized for such purposes include social media sites, landing pages (which a visitor may arrive at through some other mechanism, such as an advertisement or an e-mail), corporate web sites, mobile sites, shopping carts, etc. These properties typically exist on different websites or domains. However, because some modern browser technologies do not allow cookies to be directly used across domains, there are limits on the ability to identify users across multiple domains.
For example, it is not uncommon for a given company's corporate web site to be hosted at a domain that is different from that of the company's e-commerce site. Or in another scenario, a company may market goods on multiple sites, each of which having a different domain. In the absence of some identifying information provided by the user, it can be difficult or not possible to track the user across these different domains. However, without such an ability, it is difficult to understand the effect that interactions occurring on one site may have on another. This information is especially useful to entities that market or assist others to market goods and services to individuals online.
It is in this context that embodiments of the invention arise.